But what if that’s not enough? You may think you have your full marketing funnel built out and the formula down to a perfect science but think again.

You’re probably missing critical pieces of your funnel, rendering it incomplete and not as effective as you’d like it to be. You might have missed opportunities on the table that you didn’t even consider!

And, we can pretend we’re all in marketing for the creative freedom and cool perks, but at the end of the day, we’re here to generate leads and contribute to the bottom line. And if you aren’t doing just that, well, you’re out of a job.

Did that resonate? Keep reading to see the key areas of your funnel that you’ve most likely been neglecting and how you can address and correct these key areas ASAP.

Funnel Stages that Marketers are Neglecting

You’re likely missing a key area at the very beginning of your funnel and another key area at the very end of your funnel. At the beginning, before TOFU or awareness even happens, there’s OOFU. And, at the end, after the decision stage where you’ve actually converted someone into a customer, you’re most likely not thinking about your customers.

Oh shit, right?

I know. Just when you thought you had all of your bases covered. Let’s dive a bit deeper into each of these strategies.

OOFU

OOFU stands for “Outside of the Funnel”. I know. You’re thinking, “What? Why would I care about something that isn’t in my funnel?” but, trust me, it’s going to help you, and you’re going to want to care about it.

We used to think TOFU content is what attracted visitors to our site and began the conversion process. Now we know that OOFU content has a lot of utility for prospects and is actually used to cast a wider lead generation net initially. If you could start the conversion process even earlier, wouldn’t you want to?

Outside of the funnel content is broader content that is valuable to almost anyone. OOFU content is valuable because it allows you to connect with people who aren’t necessarily in the buyer’s journey. Yet. That’s up to you, though! Once you cast that wider net and get them at the very top of your funnel, you can then introduce them to your TOFU content.

This gives you the chance to open up the conversation with individuals who weren’t even on your radar, giving you a higher chance at converting them down the road and truly getting them into your marketing funnel at a more successful rate. Cha-ching.

Customer Funnel

As marketers, we’re often so worried about getting leads and converting them into qualified leads and then eventually into customers that once that actually happens, we’re like, yeah, awesome! And then go about our day trying to get more leads to convert into customers. Over and over.

It becomes a vicious cycle.

We never stop to think, “Man, what’s happening to the people my efforts have actually converted into customers already?”

Nurturing customers is just as important as nurturing leads into customers. Think; repeat business, evangelism, and contract renewals.

You could be missing out on just as much revenue at the end of your funnel as you were at the beginning of your funnel. In order to continue to grow your business and maintain a healthy profit margin, you need to focus on not only generating new business revenue but retaining revenue through current customers.

And, not only do you need to worry about retention, but you need to worry about creating brand evangelists (which will only help you generate more revenue from more people in the future). You also need to worry about a whole separate nurturing funnel for your current customers who may have upsell opportunities, depending on your business model.

Bottom line: don’t forget about the people who have helped you grow your bottom line thus far.

Ways to Get Started

So, by now, you know that you don’t want to leave money on the table. So what are some tactics that you can use to get started fully building out your marketing funnel to include OOFU and post-sale customer nurturing?

Examples of OOFU offers are things like HubSpot’s email signature generator template or Revenue River’s SMART marketing goals template. These offers are things that any business could use in general and aren’t necessarily leading people directly toward your business solution. However, by offering these types of tools, you are providing value to others and making them aware of your brand so if you do happen to provide a solution that they could have use for down the road, they will think of you and know exactly where to start, already giving you an edge over your competitors.

Think about what kind of content items you can successfully build that don’t directly relate to your business solution that the type of audience you’re trying to attract would still find useful. Remember: people don’t know what they don’t know, so if you can get a foot in the door with something like an email signature generator, your possibilities are endless!

To build out your post-sale funnel, think about sending out items like customer feedback surveys, customer newsletters or blog articles with tips, tricks, and news, or sending them special offers. Remember: just because they are a current customer doesn’t mean they don’t still have pain points that you can’t help them solve. And, if you don’t solve for them, they’ll go elsewhere! What can you build specifically for your customers that leads wouldn’t necessarily get the same value out of? Think about creating workflows based off of contract renewal dates or past customer support tickets, too. Your customers still need you to solve for them, so put them on the same level as the leads you’re spending so much time nurturing at the beginning of the funnel.

Remember, it isn’t just about TOFU, MOFU, BOFU anymore. Marketers are failing miserably at funnel marketing because we get comfortable following the same formula and sometimes don’t stop to think outside of the box. We forget that leads are actually people and sometimes we don’t stop to think about user experience and the actual buyer’s journey. Expand your horizons and expand your funnel. OOFU, TOFU, MOFU, BOFU, and post-sale customer funnels are the new norm. If you don’t adapt and keep solving for the customer, good luck staying relevant.

If Kelley isn’t hard at work for her clients she is hard at work at the dance studio. Kelley spends her spare time coaching a high school dance team. She was a dancer at the University of Colorado – Boulder, where she also graduated with a degree in business administration which helped prepare her for a career in marketing. She’s now an industry veteran with six years in various roles under her belt.